Bio:Jaime Lynn Shafer is a 2014 Corcoran College of Art + Design MA Art & the Book graduate. A native of Pennsylvania, Shafer graduated from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 1999 with a B.F.A. in Fine Arts/Ceramics and a certification in art education. She spent thirteen years teaching art in the Pennsylvania public school system and traveled internationally with her students, offering them an opportunity to experience the global community. She is currently a member of the board of directors of the College Book Art Association. Shafer’s work has been exhibited in the US and abroad and is a part of the permanent collections of Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, and UCLA ​Biomedical Library among others. Shafer was the 2014-2016 recipient of the Nell J. Redfield Fellowship in Book ​Arts at the University of Nevada, Reno. She currently resides in Fallon, Nevada.

Statement:Every day social issues are reported in newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet. We experience these events and happenings from an outsider’s perspective, reading about them and often sympathizing with the tragedies. We become desensitized and distance ourselves. We think “how terrible” or “how tragic,” and we continue with our lives. Putting these events in the back of our minds, we don’t process the feelings involved. Generally, these occurrences are outside of our reality until some thing—an event, a person—threatens our world and we are forced to experience a change. It is not until then that we become attuned to issues and develop a greater understanding of the impact it has on our personal lives and the people around us. As an adult, I experienced an epiphany that impacted every aspect of my life. This change forced me to re-examine my life and my belief system. By creating handmade books that deal with social injustice or history, I place the spectator in the story, thereby forcing the viewer to experience the same injustice. The book form allows the viewer to react privately to each piece just as they would when reading the newspaper, but the experience is intimate and the connection may be visceral. As the viewer becomes a part of the event, their perspective changes. I encourage people to rethink or at the very least question their present belief system.